SWTOR: And in the Shadows, Chains Unbound
by ABSilverstreak
Summary: One-shot. She tries to comfort him, he swears he's fine. A scene between an SI and her companion, Khem Val, after an incident on Tatooine. SPOILERS if you haven't reached Tat plus 3K affection.


Star Wars: The Old Republic

Characters: Sith Inquisitor, Khem Val (first companion of the SI.)

(SPOILER ALERT in the following section if you haven't gotten to Tatooine or have his affection above 3k.)

"And in the Shadows, Chains Unbound"

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><p>The ship was far too quiet. The usually noisy droid was powered down for the night and 'resting' in his corner near the bridge. Ay'ral, a pureblood Sith with golden eyes, blood red coloring, slender bone spurs jutting out and following the contour of her jawbone, found herself staring over and over at the galaxy map in front of her. Slowly she realized she wasn't paying attention to the soft, glittering lights that swirled slowly in front of her. Her mind was elsewhere. While her eyes rested on the hologram of the galaxy, her mind drifted back to a distant spot on Tatooine. A secluded bunker that was once owned by Tulak Hord. Her current companion's old master. The events that happened not long ago played through her mind, a frown forming slowly on her crimson features.<p>

She sighed and looked up at the doorway of the bridge; just around the corner her ship's droid was standing still, but powered down. She was thankful for that. But what caught her attention was the fact that the heavy footsteps that normally resounded around her ship as Khem Val paced around were silent. She knew that while she wasn't his old master, he still felt obligated to make sure that she was protected. Over time, she felt herself able to treat him with kindness and respect. She began to see deeper into him, rather than the hard armor that he kept around him. As time went on, his story, his past, began to unfold. But this recent set of events...she could feel affected him greatly.

She stood quietly, her coal-grey, black and red robes shifting around her gently as she walked quietly through her ship. She managed to sneak past her droid without setting off his usual chatter about what kind of meal plan he had come up with or what he had done with the fuel injectors or coming up with some kind of over-bearing praise. She wasn't going to dismantle him, despite what he apparently thought. He was useful.

She slipped down the short hall, bathed in the subdued red lights that lined the corridor. She paused at a door, finding it closed. Most Sith masters would just barge in, not giving a damn about respect to their companions and servants. She raised her fist, pausing for a moment. All she wanted to do was see if he was alright. He had just killed a once-friend of his, after all. She may be Sith, and may not give a damn about children and civilians getting blown up or betraying people to get her way, but there were a very few things that she cared about. And the muscled giant inside this room was one of those things. Her knuckles made contact with the door several times, a soft, muffled metal ringing resounding through the space around her, and likely inside the room. She paused a moment, waiting.

The door slid open suddenly, revealing the red-skinned Deshade just inside. White tattoos lined his face and curled across his chest, his small red eyes glinting in the matching red light of the corridor and the room he stayed in. His armor was off, save for his belt and cloth around his waist. She saw a glint in the corner of the room on the table, noting that his armor now sat on the table. Mentally she smiled softly; to her, it said that he sought comfort, not wanting to be weighed down by the heavy and thick armor that protected them both these days.

"Yes, my Master?" the towering Deshade asked, blinking down at the smaller female Sith in front of him. He held a certain respect for her lately; she killed, he drank in the energies of those they killed. It was a symbiotic relationship in a sense. But after she had helped him find what he was looking for, he felt even more respect for her.

She looked up at him, once again taken aback by his height and obvious strength.

"May...may I enter?" She asked quietly, her voice already hinting at what she wished to speak about. The Deshade seemed to think her request over, but as she was his Master now, he could not refuse. Or so he felt. He nodded, stepping back to allow her room to step in.

She slipped in quietly and pressed the button on the panel next to the door, letting the door slide shut. A quiet clicking reassured her that the door was locked. No nosy droid to come looking. She turned and stared up at Khem Val for a moment, thinking. His own eyes seemed questioning, curious as to the purpose of her visit.

"Khem..." she started, pausing a moment, and then looking back up at him. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Her words...her quiet, kind words startled the bulky alien for a moment. He had never realized that she cared enough to ask about his well-being. After the moment of his shields being down, he crossed his arms and stared back at her.

"I am fine." he said defiantly, not caring to show that his entire life, pretty much, had been torn asunder by recent events. Veshikk Urk, the Deshade that he had called his friend and was bound to Tulak Hord's apprentice, had turned the tables. The meeting he had hoped to reveal good news had turned into an argument over who was the weak one. Veshikk drove the virtual blade even deeper when he oh-so-casually explained what had happened to Khem's old master. The resulting fight was to the death; both Khem and Ay'ral sustained injuries that they were both still nursing. One such injury lay across the side of Khem's face, where as another had been sliced across Ay'ral's shoulder. Both would have scars from the encounter.

Ay'ral crossed her own arms in response to his answer, her shoulder stinging with the movement. She paid no mind to it. She watched his expressions. After many months of fighting together, she had learned to read him. And she didn't see what she normally saw. A normal Khem face was that of a proud, indestructible warrior who was ready to take on anything. This time, though, he was using a rather poor cover. She could see right through it.

"I don't believe you." She said, staring at him. She knew she was going to tread on dangerous ground in a moment, but didn't she always to begin with? This was different, though.

"I saw the look on your face when he said what happened to Tulak Hord...I heard the tone of your voice after you took down the one you thought was a dear friend to you. I know better, Khem." she said, her voice soft but firm.

Khem Val looked back at her, a low guttural sound emanating from his chest. He was growling at her. She stood her ground, not moving, not flinching, but watching.

"I would watch what you say, little Sith." he said, unfolding his arms and taking a few steps this way and that, watching her all the while like a cat on the prowl. Ay'ral shook her head.

"I know exactly what I said, and I know that you are, in fact, not alright. I know what's going on-"

"You have NO idea what's going on!" he barked back, his voice raising a few levels. Ay'ral glared at him and stepped up to him, her voice dipping a few notches.

"I know enough because I was once a slave. I never knew my parents. All I have ever known since I can remember is slavery. All I want is to know what happened to them. YOU, Khem, at least know what happened to your old master, even if the truth did hurt you. What you probably DON'T know is that hearing what Veshikk said angered me, too."

Khem Val stared at her for a moment, as if thinking of some angered response to shoot back at her...but could come up with nothing. He turned away and stared at his armor.

"I don't see why anything he said would anger you, little Sith. My past has nothing to do with you."

"You see...that's where you're wrong, Khem." She said, stepping toward him once tentatively, her voice returning to normal. "I may not give a womp rat's ass about anyone else in this forsaken galaxy, but I do give a damn about you. We've fought together, bled together, shed sweat together, and we now share our stories together. Your past, Khem, becomes my future, if you think about it." She said, reaching up and gently touching his arm, something she had never done before.

He glanced down at the gentle touch to his arm, a bit surprised at both that and his Master's kind but true words. She was right. Because they worked together now, the story of his past, and his quest to find out more of said past, now created her future. He turned to face her and shook his head.

"You need not follow my path when you have your own to follow, my Master." He said, once again putting him into the mindset that he was nothing but a slave currently, and one day he would free himself. What happened next took the Deshade by surprise.

"Khem...you are not a slave. You are, by all rights, my friend. I...don't have many of those." She said, looking down slightly, withdrawing her hand and pulling it close to her, staring down at it for a moment before looking back up at him. "No one else ever sees a soft side of me. Right now, you are seeing it. You see it because I trust you. I trust you because I see you as more than a mere slave. Far more." She said, reaching up toward his face, her fingers brushing along the side of his jaw. His skin was thick and leathery, but had a soft texture to it. She hadn't imagined that. The small round metal implants in his jaw were slightly cooler than his skin and very smooth, despite the thousands of tiny scratches that engraved the surface of each.

Taken by surprise, he reached up and grabbed her forearm, his grip tight, his head lifting back slightly. She gasped slightly, pain from the pressure of his hard claws shearing up her arm, but she didn't move away or try to pull away. She realized after a moment that he hadn't pulled her hand away very far, maybe about an inch. Red and gold orbs met for a brief moment hung in eternity, her fingers reaching towards his jawline again gently.

"I am not...your enemy, Khem. Nor am I a slavemaster. I will help you find out whatever you need to know. I will be your friend, and I won't betray you." She said softly, staring into his molten-red eyes as she spoke each word. If the eyes really were the window to the soul, then he could see that she spoke the truth. And he did see it. His grip lessened on her arm, the cloth of her robes loosening slightly. He didn't let her go completely, but it gave her slightly more freedom to comfort the hardened, remorseless warrior. Her hand returned completely to his jawline, her touch nothing more than a comforting touch. It's all she wanted; to make sure he was going to be alright.

He stared at her for a few moments, the feeling of her hand against his jaw was...strange. Never before had anyone tried to comfort him the way she did. The both of them were cruel killing machines, but each had a quiet, soft spot that was hard to discover. And both had been found on this night. After another moment he lowered his hand completely, his head lowering a little as if in defeat. Or was it respect?

"Thankyou, little one. Never before has anyone spoken to me with such kindness." He said, his deep voice rumbling in his native tongue. Ay'ral smiled softly as she lowered her hand finally.

"Khem...you were freed the moment I released you from your stasis chamber. You aren't my prisoner or slave. Know that if, at any time, you chose to leave to follow your own path on your own, you may do so. However, you must know one thing." she said, making sure to make eye contact again. He stared at her inquisitively.

"If you go, I will miss you."

Those words left him speechless as she reached up and patted his arm gently, turning to leave. She felt a clawed hand catch her shoulder gently, but she didn't turn around. She smiled softly, though, knowing what he was going to say.

"Thankyou, Little Sith. Your words...honor me."

The door hissed shut quietly behind her as she left his room, leaving him in another quiet moment over her last words. She would miss him? Yes, yes she would. She found herself hoping, however, that day would never come.

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><p>AN- First, let me get on some flame-retardant gear! This is my first SWTOR fic ever, and the storyline that Khem Val goes through is just awesome so far. My SI is only at 24 right now and I am loving the questlines. Please don't flame TOO hard!

Also, I have a picture that I made previous to writing this that has been posted on Deviantart dot com. If you want to see it, go there and look up DartzoftheOrichalcos. That is my DA screen name. I hope you enjoy that and I hope you enjoyed this, too!


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